


You will be found

by sunnylil



Category: The Night Shift (TV 2014)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-16
Updated: 2019-11-16
Packaged: 2021-02-07 10:10:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21456328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunnylil/pseuds/sunnylil
Summary: "The food is better going to be worth it, considering the sacrifice she made. Meeting Riley in person for the first time is going to be a no-brainer, if the skype sessions she spent with her dads, Riley, and her mum are any indication."A Day In The Life // Syd and Riley come over for dinner
Relationships: Drew Alister/Rick Lincoln
Comments: 2
Kudos: 45





	You will be found

“Don’t forget that Syd and Riley are coming over for dinner tonight.”

Drew is leaning against the kitchen counter, weariness written over his face.

“How could I forget it’s all you’ve been talking about for the last week,” Brianna mutters, drowning her anti-rejection meds with the last sip of orange-juice, prompting her dad’s eyebrows to twitch.

“She’s got a point,” Rick teases.

“Anyway – I want you to finish your homework tonight, all right?”

“But I’ve got the whole weekend to-“

“I thought you wanted to go to the mall tomorrow to get new sneakers?”

“Yeah, but-“

“And what about going to the lake with Rags on Sunday?”

The dog peaks up when he hears his name and Drew pats his head while he’s looking expectantly at his daughter.

“Fiiine,” Brianna tilts her head back in defeat.

Rick knocks on the kitchen counter. “We got to go. Go get your bag pack.”

“See you tonight. Have a good day at school, Bri. Love you.”

* * *

There are about ten dozen things she’d rather be doing right now than Spanish homework and the fact that Rags is sitting right next to her isn’t exactly helping. Shouldn’t it be enough that she’s trying – even though her sentences rarely can be called sentences?

“I can hear your groaning from across the hall.”

Rick sits down next to her, placing a cup of coffee in front of him.

“I wouldn’t be so loud if I didn’t have to do this.”

“What’s the matter?” he asks, smiling, motioning for her to hand him her textbook.

“No puedo hablar espanol.”

Rick laughs. “Yeah that’s about the only sentence I can help you with, sweetheart. Got the wrong guy. What else do you have to do?”

“I already finished everything else. I’m almost done and Rags is begging me to go play fetch with him, can’t you tell?”

“So it’s mostly your responsibility towards Rags that’s a problem here, I see.”

Brianna beams at him. “I knew you’d get it.”

“How about I check the rest of your homework and you go outside for let’s say,” he checks his watch, “Twenty minutes before we try to finish this together.”

It’s not exactly what she’s been hoping for but it’s better than nothing.

* * *

“Is the oreo-dessert still planned for tonight?”

Drew is resting his head on the table when Brianna comes back into the kitchen; absentmindedly fiddling with his husband’s hand.

“You bet,” he mumbles, “Want to help me prepare it while Rick prepares the fish?”

“Hell yeah! But only if I get to eat half of the cookies.”

“Nu-uh,” Rick shakes his head, “Don’t forget about your homework, Brianna.”

“Ha, nice try, lady. I got to shower first anyway, so if you hurry up you can still help, sounds okay?”

Drew stands up and squeezes her shoulder.

The food is better going to be worth it, considering the sacrifice she made. Meeting Riley in person for the first time is going to be a no-brainer, if the skype sessions she spent with her dads, Riley, and her mum are any indication. Drew and Syd try to call each other pretty much every other week since Syd came back from Syria, and Brianna tries to join them as often as possible. Nonetheless there’s a hint of a nervous flutter in her stomach when the doorbell rings an hour after they put the desert into the fridge.

Rags is the first one to reach the front door but Drew is right on his heels. Rick and Brianna are standing back, both smiling at each other at the sight of Drew’s joy when he opens the door.

Riley leaps into his arms, while her mother is standing behind her, smiling wide. Rags is barking in excitement.

“I think Rags wants to protect Dad,” Brianna laughs and Rick rubs her shoulder, nodding in agreement.

At first it’s weird, seeing Riley stand in front of her, but when Rags tries to lick her hand both girls start to giggle before Brianna tells the dog to stop it.

“He likes you,” Bri tells her, pointing at the dog that’s waggling his tail.

“Everyone likes me,” Riley deadpans and they start to laugh again. Rick and Riley greet each other with some sort of complicated handshake.

Syd hasn’t changed much since Brianna last saw her, even though she barely remembers meeting her in the post-anesthesia-induced haze.

“Look at you,” she hugs Brianna tightly, “You’re basically gleaming. I take it these two are doing a good job.”

Bri shrugs. “They both suck at _Madden _but other than that, they’re pretty awesome, yeah.”

Syd smiles and kisses Rick on the cheek. “Never had any doubts about that.”

They move into the living room, where Rags curls up on his blanket and Riley immediately starts telling them about her latest Jiu-Jiutsu tournament.

“What about you, Brianna? How’s school?”

Brianna grimaces. “Why do adults always think I like to talk about school? It sucks, have you ever heard from someone who likes school?”

Syd laughs. “Now that I think about it, no, I haven’t. Okay, then, moving on. How’s dance practice going?”

“Ah, much better topic,” Drew agrees, winking at his daughter over the table.

She tells them about the new choreography they’re working on and after they finished eating Riley asks to see her room.

“What about dessert?,” Rick asks them in mock exasperation but then he waves his hand. “Go show her your room, there’s no way I can eat dessert right away, anyway.”

It’s already getting dark outside, so Brianna turns on the fairy lights that are wrapped around her bedframe.

“Did you read all of these?” Riley asks, nodding towards the white bookshelf next to the door, while she’s spinning on Bri’s desk-chair.

“Nah, but I’m planning to. Dad just took me out on a huge book shopping spree, said I could have every book I’d like to read. He even got me the Narnia box set.”

“That’s like Christmas and your birthday are on the same day, huh?”

“Pretty much.”

“Yeah, Drew’s pretty amazing. He taught me a lot of stuff when my mum was still in Afghanistan. It really sucks that we had to move. He’s like my uncle. Just better, because my uncle isn’t that badass.”

Brianna nods. “He told me about that. How he almost broke your arm and stuff.”

Riley laughs. “We both thought mum would kill us. You really don’t want to meet her when she’s mad, she’s going all Major at you.”

“I know exactly what you’re talking about; try living with two of them under the same roof.”

“I did! It was hell!” They both laugh, imitating the worst sermons they’ve got so far.

“Hey you play _Tekken_?”

Riley nods and they both jump up, heading back towards the living room to the gaming console. “Gonna beat your ass.”

Brianna neither notices when bowls of desert appear on the coffee table, nor when the adults join them on the sofa. Eventually Drew takes over her controller and she rests her head on Rick’s shoulder, wedged between her dads.

“Syd and Riley are heading home. Come say goodbye.”

Rick carefully moves his shoulder away from her head and she blinks sleepily. Drew is standing in front of her, holding out a hand to help her up.

“Let’s facetime soon, yeah?” Riley hugs her. Brianna nods.

Syd hugs her as tightly as before.

“I hope school soon stops to suck so bad. Take care of the two doofuses for me, yeah?”

“Will do.”

They wave as Syd maneuvers the car out of the driveway, Brianna leaning against Rick, already half asleep.

“Come on, Trooper,” he gently guides her back into the living room, “Time for your meds.”

“Can I watch _Adventure Time_?”

“Sure.” Drew hands her her pill box and a glass of water.

“Tonight’s been pretty awesome,” she says after she emptied the glass.

“You think? I think so, too.” Rick kisses her temple and sits back, one arm thrown over the backrest.

“Sometimes I forget how much I miss them,” Drew sighs, rubbing his forehead.

“We gotta fly to DC, visit them. I bet it’s amazing there.”

“Bri, we barely manage to get a Saturday off at the same time-“

“Let’s talk about that another time, all right?” Drew interrupts softly, squeezing his husband’s hand.

Bri wants to protest but instead a loud yawn escapes her mouth, making both of her dads laugh.

“Time to sleep now, trooper,” Rick nudges her, “Got loads to do tomorrow.”

“Like getting ice cream?”

Drew smiles at her, before pulling her up.

“Yeah, like getting ice cream.”


End file.
